


My Family

by Applepie



Category: YuYu Hakusho
Genre: Gen, Step-Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-13
Updated: 2011-05-20
Packaged: 2017-12-11 13:50:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/799434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Applepie/pseuds/Applepie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shuichi Hatanaka thinks about his life. A new step-mother, Shiori. A new step-brother, Shuuichi. Can step-families really make a proper family? Really make up for those lost?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Mother

**Author's Note:**

> he fic's in little Shuichi Hatanaka's POV, in case the summary didn't clue you in...

A mom. My mom.

That sounded weird.

Who did dad think he was, marrying another woman like that? Maybe I don't remember my mom. Maybe I don't even have memories of being with her, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to replace her!

Or at least those were my thoughts before I met her.

Shiori… was nice. She didn't care how much I resented her when I walked through her doors. I screamed at her… she was patient. I swore at her… she gave me a mild chiding. I snarled, I hissed, I spat. And her... she just gave me a forever, unwavering smile.

And then I lost it. That clench in my heart that I tried so hard to ignore broke free. Tears swelled up in my eyes before I knew it.

Suddenly, I knew I was wrong. I knew what I was missing all those times. That hole in my chest that forced me to act out; to rebel in school, against my father, against my teachers. That was all so a mother - my mother; someone mother-like - would come and lecture me.

I hated life. I hated my friends. I hated meeting new people. …no, those were just stupid excuses. I hated the jealousy in my heart - that burning rage at seeing everyone happy.

How can we as humans walk around with smiles on our faces when every second there's someone on this planet dying? Is  _already_  dead? Are we such selfish creatures?

I resented them. I resented them all.

They weren't like me. They knew nothing about life - immature babies imitating adults; thinking they knew the world. Me, I was different. Someone I knew  _died_. I experienced something none of them had.

None of them knew what life really was. …no … lies… Those were all lies.

Scoffing at them, distancing myself from them, pretending I was superior to them … lies didn't help. Every time I looked at my friends with their parents, my chest clenched. It _hurt_.

It wasn't anger, it was jealousy. I was jealous they had something I could never experience. It was ripped away from me before I had the chance to even cherish what little it was.

I wanted a mother's unconditional love.

I wanted someone by me, listening to me, hugging me, cheering me up a way no father could. That instinctual way of loving that only a mother could bring was missing from my life. I wanted a mother. ...Want? No, it was more than that... I  _needed_  a mother.

Her face. Her love. Her laugher. Her comfort. Her protection. Why couldn't someone give me that? Why was I all alone?

Life was unfair - it hated me so. So I gave up right with it. -But then it suddenly all changed.

And now, I got a mother. Or rather, she got me.

My world flipped upside-down. Love-Hate? Hate-Love? Everything was different now. My heart finally felt whole. Everything suddenly seemed so much clearer.

Perhaps now I can finally stop lying to myself; lying to father. I can be happy. Be proud. And live a happy life.

Forever.  _Together_.

And this time I knew how to treasure my mother proper. And I won't need to hold back my tears either, because mother... she'll always be there for me, and only me. And I know she'll  _always_  care.


	2. My brother

A brother. My brother.

It's not something I ever expected.

Did I want him; did I need him? I would like to say no. In fact, I  _did_  say no. As venomously as I could.

All I got was a quirked eyebrow, and a wiry smile.

And it  _stung_. Here I was denying so viciously, uncaring about what my father wanted; and there he was, accepting everything and encouraging his mother on.

Am I really so immature? Was I acting so childish that Shuuichi – him, not me – wouldn't even spare me a word? Or a pointless argument? Am I - to throw my own words back at myself - an "immature baby imitating adults"?

Of course, I  _don't want_  a pointless argument, but couldn't he at least looked over at me and acknowledge how this affected me? Understand how he was completely messing up my comfortable lifestyle? Apologize for budging into  _my_ life?

-Or so I had thought initially.

Here I was, throwing a tantrum, and he just sits coolly,  _reassuring_  everyone. We're barely four years apart in age, but in maturity and wisdom, I'm nowhere on his level. I'm rebelling, he's pacifying. I yell, he sooths. I'm hectic, he's composed.

He's everything  _anyone_  would strive to be.

And I'm suddenly ashamed to be me, and how I run my mouth off like I'm the king of the world. And how I think I'm so special that I'm excused to do what I do. And how I'm selfish and hypocritical, and expect everything to work out for me, me,  _me._

It stung my heart  _hard and sharp_ to realize how I  _really_  sounded like.

Shuuichi made me step back and really look at myself. My whines, complains, and grumblings. What was I trying to achieve with those? Who was I trying to fool? I fooled  _myself_  into thinking that I was older, smarter, superior, and exceptional to everyone else. It was a fool's delusions – fooling no one but a fool like me.

And then I got caught by the one thing I thought I could do without. A brother.

Silently, without a word, he crept into my heart and settled down into a place unused before. He unconsciously became my role model - someone I struggled to be.

I was once rude – primitive. But now I plan to change.

I  _can_  be polite. I  _can_  be proper. I  _am_ capable to become the perfect son – the perfect man. And I  _will_  do just that.  _Just you wait._

And Shuuichi, he just sits silently by me, watching my back; my mistakes. He doesn't judge. He doesn't scorn. He doesn't critique. He just sits and watches - his silent approval full of love.

And I know without him saying, that on the first sign of trouble, he'll have my back. And on the first sign of a problem, with just a single word, he'll come and help. Unconditionally and just for me, because that's what a good brother does. And Shuuichi… Shuuichi is the best of the best.

I'm glad I got to know him. I'm glad I tried.

Or else I would've missed out on so much of my life.

 


End file.
